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INTEL
PIG BUTCHERING: now the #1 loss category in the US by estimated volume / HUSHPUPPI: the Instagram that became the evidence -- Case 001 open / BEC: one spoofed email, one wire, seven figures -- see the methodology / ROSS ULBRICHT: full pardon January 21 2025 after 11+ years -- Case 013 open / ALL FIGURES LABELED: estimate vs conviction vs market collapse -- see Methodology / UNODC 2023: $5.4B estimated annually from SE Asia pig-butchering compounds [UNVERIFIED] / PIG BUTCHERING: now the #1 loss category in the US by estimated volume / HUSHPUPPI: the Instagram that became the evidence -- Case 001 open / BEC: one spoofed email, one wire, seven figures -- see the methodology / ROSS ULBRICHT: full pardon January 21 2025 after 11+ years -- Case 013 open / ALL FIGURES LABELED: estimate vs conviction vs market collapse -- see Methodology / UNODC 2023: $5.4B estimated annually from SE Asia pig-butchering compounds [UNVERIFIED]
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COMPANY · TRADING FIRM

Alameda Research

🇺🇸 Berkeley, California, then Hong Kong · FOUNDED 2017-11
THE FIGURE
~$8B
FTX customer deposits (cash and crypto) that went through Alameda: the core figure at SBF's trial.
WHAT IT SAID IT WAS

A crypto trading firm Sam Bankman-Fried started first, in 2017. Caroline Ellison ran it from 2021.

WHAT IT REALLY WAS

It borrowed FTX customer deposits through a hidden exemption in the exchange's code, then spent them on venture bets, political donations, property and its own trading losses.

THE STORY

Sam Bankman-Fried founded Alameda Research in Berkeley in November 2017 and FTX in May 2019, moving both to Hong Kong and then the Bahamas. FTX became the world's second-largest crypto exchange, valued at $32 billion, while Alameda — run from 2021 by Caroline Ellison — quietly borrowed FTX customer deposits through a hidden exemption in the exchange's code. When a leaked balance sheet triggered a run in November 2022 the hole was about $8 billion; FTX filed for Chapter 11 on 11 November and Bankman-Fried was arrested a month later. Ellison pleaded guilty and testified; he was convicted on seven counts in November 2023 and got 25 years. The bankruptcy estate, having recovered $16 billion or more, began repaying creditors in full-plus-interest in February 2025.

WHO RAN IT
Caroline Ellison ▸
CEO · open the case file
Sam Bankman-Fried ▸
founder · open the case file
WHO WAS HURT
FTX customers (money lent to Alameda out of their deposits)lenders to Alameda
HOW IT ENDED
Founded
2017-11
Based
Berkeley, California, then Hong Kong
Ended
2022-11-11
How
bankruptcy — Chapter 11 filed in Delaware 11 November 2022; plan effective 3 January 2025 and repaying creditors

CFTC consent order 7 August 2024: FTX Trading and Alameda to pay $12.7B (~$8.7B restitution, ~$4B disgorgement), the largest CFTC recovery ever. Chapter 11 plan effective 3 January 2025; 98% of creditors to get at least 118% of petition-date claim value; distributions of $1.2B (Feb 2025), $5B (May 2025), $1.6B (Sept 2025) and later rounds. Alameda Research's founder Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years (March 2024); Ellison to 2 years with an $11B forfeiture order (Sept 2024).

SOURCES
cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8938-24prnewswire.com/news-releases/ftx-announces-effective-date-and-record-dtheblock.co/post/331067/ftx-customers-to-get-distributions-through-kra
Facts as published in court records, regulator releases and the sources above. Anyone charged and not convicted is alleged only.
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